An edgy and unapologetic look at the growing impact that open LGBTQ
music artists, and their straight allies, are having on the portrayal of
sexuality and gender politics in music, and its affect on the
normalizing of gay culture. Using artists personal experiences as a
lens, we’ll look at sexuality’s influence on music and the role of
social media in helping artists complicate mainstream expectations of
identity. How far are artists willing to push their music, messages and
imagery to challenge the way pop culture defines notions of sexuality,
masculinity, femininity, gender and what it means to be queer? [Source]

“Boyfriend” is one of Sara’s songs, and it sounds like a right-to-reply from the silent partners of “I Kissed a Girl” or Demi Lovato’s “Cool for the Summer.”

“I let you take advantage ‘cause it felt so good / I blame myself for thinking we both understood,” Sara sings seductively, before bursting into an anxious, sing-songy ultimatum: “You call me up like you would your best friend / You turn me on, like you would your boyfriend / But I don’t wanna be your secret anymore.”

She didn’t intend it as a kiss-off. She was writing in part about Reader seeing a guy when they first met, and more broadly about gender identity and roles in all relationships, which inspired the video’s fluid, drag-inspired aesthetic: The Quins take turns getting gaudy makeup applied, and a giant motion-capture camera films them in close-up, miming along to the ridiculously catchy track. In the final, CGI-enhanced edit, the colors will swim across their faces. Sara says she’s ready for such an obviously queer pop song (she notes it name-checks The Crying Game) to strike a mainstream chord. “The idea of a guy being like, ‘I totally relate to ‘Boyfriend,’ girls are always playing these games with me,’ and I’m like, I know,” she says with an emphatic groan. “I think there’s a part of me that wishes I lived in a world where it was like that.”